Sunday Toughie No 156
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Beam is back for his second Sunday Toughie and it is a treat, all his trademarks™ are there (sweetheart, The Queen, single-word answers and an average 5.375 words per clue) I found a lot of cycle parts but as a cycling fan I am probably a bit biased. It allowed me to tell a couple of old jokes too.
We have a generous 16a and 16d clues today and I have hinted half plus a couple of bonus pics. I hope you find enough checkers to fill the grid.
Here we go, Folks…
As it is a Prize puzzle I can only hint at a few and hope that will give you the checkers and inspiration to go further. I’ll return with the full review blog just after the closing date. Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints!
I hope I don’t have to redact any comments but I am new at this and don’t want to rock the boat. If in doubt, I’ll rub it out! I think that sentence is a bit redundant. You have all been so helpful in sorting out prior parsing failures, and I am sure I will need similar help again.
Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also” Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious. Don’t forget the Mine of Useful information that Big Dave and his son Richard so meticulously prepared for us.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions. Some hints follow: Remember the site rules and play nicely.
Across
1a Help when one’s stuck in position (10)
A synonym of when, and a position or pose into which is inserted the letter that looks like one and its plural ‘s
10a Second fish nearly rejected mollusc (7)
Almost all of the fish of the cod family is reversed, it follows an abbreviation
12a Costume rips, repeatedly holding back sweat (8)
A reverse lurker (holding back) in the first three words of the clue
15a Prepared, stopped losing head protecting Queen (7)
A synonym of stopped loses its first letter then it goes around (protecting) our late Queens regnal cipher
17a They top coverings on cakes, finally (7)
Multiple coverings are recommended to keep one warm in winter, they follow the last letter of cakes
21a Possibly drill bit runs around radius (7)
A bit or part around one abbreviation followed by the other
22a
24a Sit on seat clutching tether’s ends? (8)
A seat (for a horse or bicycle) contains the ends of tether
That ad was a straightforward lift from getting my first bike in 1970
30a Measure rhythm inside heart (10)
Two synonyms, one inside the other
Down
1d Portion of church primates elevating saint (4)
Some primates with the shorter abbreviation of saint elevated up the order for a part of a church
4d Discord maybe fabricated for real (7)
Discord here is not a disagreement or strife, but an instant messaging social platform, the abbreviation for such computer programs and fabricated or made up. For real (of an academic subject) put to use for a purpose rather than studied for its own sake, (opposite to pure or theoretical)
7d Stone top of arched entrance (5)
The topmost letter of arched and an entrance might be the type of stone that a geologist has at the bottom of his garden
9d Organ is flat missing register’s opening (8)
A synonym of flat without the opening letter of register is an organ of the body – when examining this organ, the doctor must have no more than one hand on the patient’s shoulder!
14d Man current vessel, displaying skill (10)
A manual worker, the physics abbreviation of current and a vessel display a particular skill
16d Holding article to hide tattoos? (8)
An article contains an informal term for tattoos, holding a set of beliefs
20d Meaningless performance taking stage for prize (7)
A repetitive performance without regard to the meaning contains the scenery for the staging of a performance
26d Man, perhaps, oddly insulted (4)
A definition by example (perhaps) odd letters of the last word
More cycling but maybe only for this fan
Compiler
Beam
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9d is not an organ, according to Chambers. I’ve never heard it referred to as such.
While gland may be a better description, I think Organ is good enough for crosswords and a better surface too – I was thinking of a Church organ badly tuned for a while
Have to disagree. It’s an organ or it isn’t. In this case, it isn’t. End of.
Found a couple of really tricky bits in this one – 4d where I’d never heard of that definition of discord and 21a which had me running round in circles. Top three for me came from the easier ones – 22&28a plus 8d.
Devotions as always to Mr T/Beam and thanks to SJB for the hints.
I too was a little surprised that Mr T/Beam is au fait with the social media platform. Different abbreviations for the same letter had me running in similar circles deciding which went round and which went on
I wondered whether the knowledge came from his son?
Well it looks as though Beam’s appearance a few weeks ago wasn’t a one-off and he’s now a regular on the Sunday Toughie rota. Thanks to him for the enjoyable puzzle and to SJB for the hints.
I’ve never heard of the 4d Discord so that needed a check.
My ticks went to 11a, 16d, 20d and 21d.
Beam is certainly a welcome addition to the roster, I am not sure Dada needs two prize puzzles on the same day though. I am not complaining when they are as good as these.
It’s only a crossword phils
Collins Dictionary defines 9d as “An organ that surrounds the urethra of males, etc”. I will spare you the remainder of the definition.
That lends weight to the rumour that Collins may be about to replace Chambers as dictionary of choice with crossword editors, but either way I think it ok for setters to stretch a few definitions for the sake of a smooth surface. It did allow me to make the old joke about the proctologist with both hands on one’s shoulders✋🖕✋
I was using a different ‘top’ for 17 ac. It gave me an answer that worked, until I got the checkers, and then it didn’t. Prize crossword so I can say no more.
Thanks for that 17a was one of my last ones in too
Late to comment & still nursing the bruises having been felled by this beastly Beamer. Needed a hint to get going again 4 shy of completion (11,17&21a +9d) so sneaked a peak at the down clue & the pennies then dropped with the extra checker in for each of the across ones. Like others the discord bit at 4d a mystery. Thought it maybe a tad tougher than is par for the course for a Ray T Toughie & as enjoyable as ever. Top 2 for me 8d&30a & maybe 2d can have the last podium spots.
Thanks to Beam & as ever to John
I like to think there is a discord group for setters to exchange ideas but I suspect that Jane has got the right idea, a younger member of the T family has helped there.
The four you were stuck on were all the ones I dithered over for the longest. I spared the blog the heavy metal that 17a prompted and they really are a bit too heavy even for me.
A tricky puzzle to accompany my morning tea today, so just as well it arrived in a large mug. I was off to a flier with the 4-letter ‘gimme’s in the corners, but soon came down to earth. I eventually completed the grid, but I’m not sure I have 11a correct, as I appear to be missing something in the wordplay, and Gazza has listed it amongst his favourites. I’ll revisit it…
My favourites today were 10a (a nicely observed clue), 9d (for the artful surface reading) and 17a, which was my last one in. An incorrect entry in 15a did create a bit of a hiatus; I had the correct components but my Queen was protected in the wrong place. Unravelling 2d forced me to change my answer – which then made more sense! The 4d ‘Discord’ was new to me, but it exists in a part of cyber space that I don’t frequent.
Many thanks to Beam and to SJB.
A synonym for your behind (_!_) does appear in the solution, I had it as an all in one as a condition of being behind in payments
That is as I have it, but I still have 3 letters apparently unaccounted for in the wordplay (albeit just short of a second synonym for behind!). My forays into books containing historical crosswords informs me that clues often used to contain ‘wordplay’ that simply referenced a component of the definition/answer and not every element. Perhaps this clue is a nod to the masterly setters of a bygone era…
Took us ages but git there in the end.